Fix the issue, before you lose a customer!

How many signs or somethings like this have you seen? Tens, maybe hundreds? They are certainly communicating something to their customers with this method. In this instance, I think they’re trying to communicate that the lock on this door might not work as others like it that you have experienced have in the past. And that either the organization or the customer, if choosing to turn the lock, may resort in being accidentally never able to use this restroom again.

While it is not entirely clear to me exactly what the dangers of turning the lock or the benefits of not turning the lock are, there are many, many other things this sign is communicating to me and to other customers that might be extremely concerning to this establishment but maybe not getting them the benefit for which they really want to get.

As optimistic as I want to be and think that this sign is communicating something that will help and benefit me, sadly that is not where my focus stays for very long despite the good intentions.

Instead, the first thing the sign communicates is something is broken. I never like to be reminded of things that are broken or don’t work the way you would expect them to. I feel like I have fairly reasonable expectations about how things should function. When they don’t, it almost always becomes a fairly big frustration point for me. It especially becomes a frustration point to me when it feels like what is broken is just been pointed out with little to no resolution in the matter. This clearly fits into that category for me.

Another thing it communicates to me is this is almost an unapologetic, “Yep, things break. So we told you about it. Now it’s your problem, not ours.” Completely washing their hands of it (wait, maybe people won’t be able to wash their hands if you turn the lock?!?). I like to think that there was some effort made in fixing the issue that is broken before the sign was hung, and the sign was hung as an absolute last resort. But when you think of the time it took to even type up the sign, print a sign and hang the sign, you have to ask yourself was enough effort put into the resolution of this matter or was time wasted in the sign solution that should have been spent in resolving the issue.

One more thing it communicates is that there is no real timeline for when things will be working again as you might expect. You may forever need to work with the exceptions that are noted on the sign.

Lastly, the all-encompassing compassing signature of “Management” shows a complete lack of face-of-responsibility to the situation and the resolution. They might as well of sign the note “the man” or “the establishment” to further distance any one person who is actually responsible for locks on doors at this place of business to work as a customer might expect them to work.

OK, I may have overdone it for one piece of paper in one restroom. But here are some key points that I think we all need to know and remember in the area of addressing, communicating, fixing, and holding ourselves accountable to customer pain-points and possible missed expectations our customers may be experiencing on a daily basis.

1. Comb your business on a regular basis, and empower your employees to do the same, looking for and being aware of possible areas that need attention or fixing. Listen to your customers for went they are even hinting that something is falling short of an expectation. Customers that have expectations of us and tell us about them are our biggest fans.
2. Fix all problems in a timely matter. No, really fix it! No band-aids or workarounds. It’s not fair to your employees or customer to put up with something broken.
3. Over-communicate what you’re doing about the matter. Leave no doubt in peoples minds that fix is coming and when they can expect it.
4. Don’t be so worried about rolling something new out “on-time” or “on-budget” that you roll it out with defects or issues you know about. If you ran a restaurant and someone ordered a steak; would you ever allow an employee to return to their table with a live steer and say, “Sorry, I wanted to get this to you as soon as I could because you seemed so excited about the steak”? Sometimes the messes we leave our customers in when we have “known defects” at roll-out, are about as big as messes as asking them to butcher their own animal to get dinner.
5. Own it. Things do break and need to be fixed, everyone knows that.  So being up front and owning the issues is sometimes the very most comforting thing for our customer and builds lasting trust and respects.

Bonus items below, but only to be used if you truly know that it is the exception and never the rule; got it???

• In very rare moments what the customer sees as an issue is not an issue and you kindly, and respectfully get to remind, “Oh, we have it that way because many of your fellow customers REALLY like it…How can I help you become more comfortable with this situations?” Some people don’t like that they need to update your app, the newest security measure at an airport, having to provide the CVV code from the back of their credit card or your new hairstyle. These aren’t really issues or broken matters that need to be fixed, they are just opportunities to engage with your customer.